Maids ‘making memories’
Parrott refuses to get drawn on promotion hopes after club’s awesome 56-17 victory
Having recently read a quote from Kelly Brown on his successful spell with Saracens, Myke Parrott says Maidenhead’s aim this season isn’t necessarily to win the title or achieve promotion, but to ‘make some awesome memories’.
The first of those memories will take some topping, after Maids produced an impressive display of running rugby to see off London Welsh 56-17 at Braywick Park.
Having more than matched their opponents in the first half, easing themselves into a deserved 18-5 half-time lead after tries from Mark Grimshaw and Scott Prince, Maids took a vice-like grip on the contest, squeezing the life out of Welsh to run in a further five tries.
Maids’ fans arrived at Braywick Park in a buoyant mood, expecting an exciting, entertaining clash between two strong teams, however, none could have anticipated the game would become so onesided in the second period. Off the back of one game - and some impressive results in pre-season - Maids look like a side capable of challenging for the Regional 1 South Central title, but Parrott said afterwards he's not going to get drawn into promises he can’t keep, rather he simply wants the players to make some brilliant memories and have a ball on the way.
“We were expecting a tough game, so I'm delighted with the manner of that victory,” he said afterwards. “Now, we’ve got to do our best to keep the lads’ feet on the ground. I shot myself in the foot last season. I made a lot of promises and a lot of noise, so I'm not committing to anything, but I want us to have a lot of fun this season.
“I saw a really good quote from Kelly Brown at Saracens where he said they didn't set out to win anything, but instead set out to create some awesome memories and I think that’s true to us here. We’ve got a young squad and are still a team in transition in many ways, but we want to have some brilliant games and have a load of fun on the way.”
Saturday was magnificent and showed off Maids
at their dazzling best, however, Parrott knows they’ll get a rude awakening if they fail to refocus and do the basics right in Saturday’s derby game at Bracknell, a side who’ve had the edge over Maids in many of their recent clashes.
“Absolutely, this is a derby game and it’s away from home so it's going to be very different to this one,” added Parrott. “But I’m sure that when this result gets through to them, they're also going to be a bit concerned.”
Head coach David Mobbs-Smith was also a little taken aback by Saturday’s 56-17 score line, if not the performance.
Having added quality players to an already strong looking squad, Maids had an aura about them against Welsh. Whether rivals such as Wimbledon, Bracknell, or Havant can prick that in the coming weeks remains to be seen, but their result was only bettered by Bournemouth, who thrashed Royal Wootton Bassett 49-7.
“They have a good, strong pack and we had to try and keep them out of our half, and I thought we did that very well,” said Mobbs-Smith. “If they get anywhere near your 22, they can be very effective. It was 18-5 and that was probably realistic of what had happened in the game in terms of threat. But they’d probably say it should have been 18-10 and that's what it quickly became in the second half.
“We hit back straight away though, and that’s probably what hurt them. Every time they did something we were able to counter it and get the ball back down the other end of the field. That’s heart-breaking, especially for a big pack like theirs.
“They did well to stay in the game and come back and score at the end, that shows you what they're made of.
“We’ve prepared better for this season, brought in a new S&C (strength and conditioning) coach and that's helped get more of the squad to a level required to play in this league.
“You must absorb a lot of pressure, and then in the last 20, try and win the game. We played with a lot of variety, but when you have young players, you must keep them mentally entertained in the tactics. If you stick to a very rigid plan, they get bored of it.
“Today it came off, but next week's a huge game against Bracknell. On today’s performance we looked strong, but we'll see what happens when we pick up a few injuries.
“However, the club is definitely on an upward curve in terms of coaching, players, recruitment.”